Tax authorities have frozen the bank accounts of around 5,000 firms and individual taxpayers and prevented a number of them from going abroad for not clearing their tax liabilities.

Although such a move is not unusual, it is the first time that taxpayers—individuals and firms—have been targeted in such a huge number, tax officials said.

According to them, it was high time strong measures are taken to bridge the huge deficit between revenue collection and the target.

According to the Inland Revenue Department, it is currently facing a tax deficit of Rs39 billion compared to the target. In order to meet the total tax collection target of Rs404 billion, the tax office should raise Rs103 billion in the month of Asar (mid-June to mid-July) alone, according to the department.

Originally, the monthly target for Asar was just Rs64 billion, it said.

“We are taking legal action against those whose tax dues have exceeded Rs500,000,” said Yagya Prasad Dhungel, information officer at the department. “Bank accounts of the majority of them have been frozen to mount pressure on them to clear the dues. Bank accounts of approximately 5,000 taxpayers have been frozen.”

According to Dhungel, the tax authority has prevented some taxpayers from going abroad and already dispatched a letter to the Department of Immigration to implement the move.

“We have prevented taxpayers having little or no money in their firms’ names from going abroad,” Dhungel added.

Dhungel, however, refused to reveal the exact number and names of the taxpayers who have been barred from going abroad.

For the last three months, tax offices have intensified efforts to recover tax dues amounting to Rs80 billion, according to the department.

As part an of alternative action plan approved by the department in April, steps such as freezing bank accounts and travel bans are being taken.

Tax offices have published the list of taxpayers who have tax dues of over Rs500,000 and have frozen the bank accounts of many of them for failing to show up to clear the dues.

For example, the Inland Revenue Office, Putalisadak published a list of 135 taxpayers.

“We have frozen bank accounts of 81 of them,” a source at the tax office told the Post on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.

Some of the firms whose bank accounts have been frozen by the Putalisadak tax office are Surya Travels, Annapurna Casino and Baidehi Construction.

Surya Travel has tax dues of around Rs100 million—unpaid for a decade. Likewise, Baidehi Construction has tax liability of around Rs50 million, according to the source.

Tax officials said most of the taxpayers with dues are engaged in construction businesses.

Both individual construction companies and their joint ventures are liable to pay dues in huge amounts, according to officials.

“Joint venture construction companies that have tax dues of over Rs1 million, have a total tax liability of over Rs2 billion,” said Dhungel.

Some tax offices are preparing to lower the threshold of dues from current Rs500,000 to recover tax from more taxpayers.

“We are planning to lower the threshold of dues to Rs100,000 so that even smaller taxpayers could be brought to book to meet the revenue target,” said Dhungel. “The department has instructed its offices to recover most of the dues of past years and 80 percent of dues maintained in the current fiscal year.